The Clash of Sticks
Today, a decision is expected from the Virginia Supreme Court re "hockey stick" climate alarmist Michael E Mann's continued attempts to obstruct access to his data. A bunch of big media - NPR, The Washington Post et al - have filed briefs opposing Mann and the University of Virginia because they understand that a victory for him would be a massive defeat for freedom of information that would more or less gut the law in that state. Likewise, were he to prevail in the upcoming Mann vs Steyn trial of the century at the DC Superior Court, it would be the biggest setback for the First Amendment in the half-century since New York Times vs Sullivan... |
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SteynPostsNigels in the News
Notes around the Anglosphere: ~For American readers: Rush is having surgery tomorrow and it's my privilege to return to the Golden EIB Microphone to host America's Number One radio show. Three hours of substitute-host-level Excellence in Broadcasting starts live coast to coast at 12 noon Eastern/9am Pacific. ~For Aussie readers: My cover story on freedom of expression in this week's Speccie can be read here. I'm increasingly struck by how little the cause of free speech resonates these days ... SteynPostsThe Plains of Bureaustan
I wrote yesterday about the weekend's developments in Cliven Bundy's stand-off with the Bureau of Land Management. John Hinderaker returns to the subject: To begin with, his family has been ranching on the acres at issue since the late 19th century. They and other settlers were induced to come to Nevada in part by the federal government's promise that they would be able to graze their cattle on adjacent government-owned land. For many years they did so, with no limitations or fees. The Bundy ... SteynPostsThe Pasture is Prologue
Some unfinished business from last week to start a new week: ~I wrote on Wednesday about the "First Amendment Area" in Nevada to which twerp enforcers from something called the Bureau of Land Management have attempted to confine protesters in a dispute about grazing rights. The photo at right is from the showdown between the Bundy family and the BLM, which is to Nevada as the Red Army is to Eastern Ukraine. In the picture, hundreds of Bundy supporters, many on horseback, have in effect headed ... Mark's MailboxWrong, Said Fred
Readers weigh in on Mann vs Steyn, Brandeis vs Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Mozilla vs Brenda Eich, and the Bureau of Land Management vs the First Amendment Steyn on AmericaThe National Disgrace of Fort Hood
America dishonors the victims of Major Hasan, and adds insult to grievous injuries SteynPostsDublin on Two-and-a-Half Million Dollars a Day
Motorcades are for banana republics The Hugh Hewitt ShowThe Wretched Jelly-Spined Nothing Eunuchs of Brandeis
Mark talks to Jamie Weinstein about Brandeis and the New Hampshire Senate race Ave atque valeBarn Stormer
Mickey Rooney died last Sunday at the age of 93, and I didn't want the SteynOnline week to end without a word about him. Aside from anything else, and as ridiculous as it sounds, we share a musical director... SteynPostsA Trip to the Museum
They can't stop the Fort Hood killers, but they can get a grade-schooler and his gran'ma Ave atque valeNot Falling Far From the Tree
From Peaches Geldof to Paula Yates to Hughie Green back to a political family on the Canadian prairie a century ago... Mann vs SteynFootball and HockeyThe Corner post that launched a lawsuit... |
Steyn on the WorldThe "Safe Space" is Where Cultures Go to Die
I'm back in The Spectator this week in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Down Under, as you can see, I'm the cover story; in the Mother Country, I take second billing to God and Richard Dawkins (not sure who gets top billing between them). It's an overview of recent free-speech issues, from California to Canberra:
One Year AgoNo Islam to See Here
Exactly twelve months ago, on April 15th 2013, at 3.35pm, I wrote in a short post: "There are reports of two huge blasts and multiple serious injuries at the finish of the Boston Marathon." Herewith, a few excerpts from what I wrote in the days that followed... Steyn's Song of the WeekRock Around The Clock
Six decades ago - April 12th 1954 - a chubby-faced kiss-curled man pushing 30 with a backing group named after a theory published in Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae in 1705 went into the recording studio at the Pythian Temple on West 70th Street in New York and sang a song written by a man born in the 19th century: One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock! Five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock rock! Nine, ten, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock rock! We're gonna Rock! Around! The Clock tonight... ... Mark at the MoviesKill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2
Ten years ago this month Quentin Tarantino unveiled the second part of his Kill Bill double-bill. He wasn't making a lot of movies in those days. Kill Bill was his first picture since Jackie Brown six years earlier. I'm not the biggest fan of Tarantino, and I think he's almost incapable of engaging you in narrative drama rooted in real characters, but Kill Bill has moments that have stuck with me over the years... Defend Free Speech!Irony Alert
Breaking as-it-happens news about a trial that isn't happening any day soon, or any half-decade soon. Previously on Mann vs Steyn et al, National Review had filed a motion asking for yet another stay in discovery pending the appeals court's ruling on their appeal - or, indeed, the appeals court's ruling on whether they're allowed to appeal. Whatever. I'm bored by all this procedural flimflam and am anxious to proceed with discovery and go to trial, as I could have done by now in almost any functioning jurisdiction. So I filed an objection. Michael Mann eventually filed an objection, too. He also wants to proceed with discovery but only against me, not against him. A voyage of one-way discovery. Anyway, yesterday Judge Weisberg announced his decision... Steyn on CultureDegrees of Separation
The courage of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the cowardice of Brandeis University |
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